Jets feeling confident as they face Islanders after big rally against Rangers

BROOKLYN — Riding the high of a couple of emotional road wins, the Winnipeg Jets will try to make it a clean sweep of their three-game swing Tuesday night against the New York Islanders.

The Jets started the trip with a 4-3 overtime win over the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night and followed that up with a 4-3 shootout win over the New York Rangers that came after they roared back from a 3-0 deficit in the third period on Sunday.

Those are the kinds of wins that players remember for a long time and can be building blocks for a successful season.

“Especially rallying when we were down 3-0,” Jets centre Bryan Little said. “We went into that third period believing we were a team that could come back and win that game and we did. We stuck with it and we ended up getting a big win. I think that belief is always in here, which is a good thing.”

The Jets now have a 16-8-2 record on the season and have won three straight games. They are getting offence from all four lines and are holding their own defensively, despite a rash of injuries on the blue-line.

Still, this team has not played as strong team defence this season as it did last year when it made it all the way to the Western Conference final.

“We had so much success last year playing a really tight defensive game and letting our offensive instincts take over when they need to,” Little said. “We can definitely get a little better at that, be more comfortable in those close games, those 2-1 games, but for the most part we’re finding ways to win right now so that’s the only thing that matters.”

The Jets will be without forward Andrew Copp on Tuesday night when they face the 13-9-3 Islanders at the Barclays Center (6 p.m. CT).

Copp returned from a concussion to play in New Jersey and New York and scored a goal against the Devils, but wasn’t feeling well on Monday and will be re-evaluated on Wednesday in Winnipeg.

Winnipeg Jets center Andrew Copp celebrates his goal against the New Jersey Devils during the third period of an NHL hockey game, Saturday, in Newark, N.J.Julio Cortez /
AP

“He’ll get looked at when he gets back,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said. “He felt fine, played great, but didn’t feel good (Monday) so we’ll hold him out.”

Rookie winger Brendan Lemieux will draw into the lineup in his place. Lemieux could play on a line with Adam Lowry and Brandon Tanev, or go with Jack Roslovic and Mason Appleton, as could Mathieu Perreault, but that decision will be made when Maurice sees the line-matching plan of Islanders coach Barry Trotz.

Connor Hellebuyck will get the start in goal for the second straight game. He has struggled this season and wasn’t outstanding in the win over New York (16 saves on 19 shots), but he stopped two of three shots in the shootout.

Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck (37) makes a save against the New York Rangers during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Sunday in New York.Noah K. Murray /
AP

Backup Laurent Brossoit has been the better of the two Jets goalies so far this season, but Maurice liked the way Hellebuyck played in the final period and overtime on Sunday.

“Laurent got a good number of shots (Saturday) night and Connor didn’t get a whole lot of work the next night,” Maurice said. “Connor made a real good save at the end of the second and a real good glove save in the third and shut the door in the shootout so he should be feeling good. He’s feeling rested so we want to get him back in.”

Maurice said the Jets are feeling good about themselves after their performance in New York. They dominated the Rangers for the entire game, outshooting them 42-19 and stuck with the plan despite getting stymied for two periods by New York goaltender Henrik Lundqvist.

“We had two periods of hockey that we were pretty pleased with so it helped cement an idea that if you’re right you don’t have to change a lot, you keep going,” Maurice said. “You take confidence from that. Every time you can do something like that in a game, it builds that faith that can help you going forward. You know that if you’re down one or two or even three going into the third period, you don’t have to have a lot of secret plays to make up the gap.”

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